Bean burgers

I don't care for fake meat, being perfectly happy to eat the real thing, but bean burgers are a good thing in their own right. And these were so easy and quick to make - and the Swan Whisperer said "Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!"

About 1/2-3/4 cup dried beans, soaked for at least one hour in boiling water and then cooked for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker. Or a 400g tin, drained and rinsed. You can use any sort of beans - kidney, cannelloni, borlotti, pinto, black-eye... I used kidney beans.

1 slice wholemeal bread

Handful walnuts (30g?)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 chilli pepper, seeds removed 

1/2 packet fresh parsley

2 small or 1 large carrots, grated

1 tbs cooking oil

Seasoning

Put everything except the beans and carrots into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Now add the beans and pulse several times, but not too much - you want them to be recognisably beans!

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the grated carrots and seasoning, then use your hands to mix everything very thoroughly until it begins to come together. Form into patties, and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Sprinkle with flour (I used gram flour) and then fry for several minutes on each side. Or bake....

I served this in a bun with avocado and a portobello mushroom with cheese, garnished with sweet chilli sauce, with coleslaw and home-made tzatziki on the side.

And no, I couldn't eat it all, but the Swan Whisperer ate that which I could not! 

Cabbage Casserole

I was really surprised not to find a version of this elsewhere on the blog, as I've been making it on and off since the 1970s, in both a vegetarian and meat version.  It is cheap and easy, and very definitely a one-pot meal.  I'm not giving exact amounts,  because you can adjust them to suit the number of people you're feeding.

Cabbage - the solid kinds work better than the very leafy kinds (white or red, or that extremely nice pointed one), chopped.
Potatoes, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs plain flour
1-2 tbs wine vinegar
1 tbs brown sugar (demerara is best, but any brown will do).
Salt and pepper.
Then your choice of:
Belly pork, diced OR
Lean pork, diced OR
Chicken pieces, diced OR
Roasted nuts (peanuts or cashew) OR
I expect tofu would work, too, if you like it.

Use either the kind of casserole that will go both on top of the stove and in the oven OR a pressure cooker (Instant Pot is best).  In either case, put the oil in the pan, and if you are using meat or tofu, seal them in the hot oil.  You can also cook a teaspoonful of mustard seeds and/or cumin or caraway seeds in the oil.  Now add the cabbage and stir thoroughly until it is coated, and then stir in the flour, vinegar and sugar.  Season to taste. 

If you are using a pressure cooker, add 1/4 cup water at this stage, and if you're using peanuts or cashew nuts, now is the time to add them and stir in.  Flatten off the dish and place the potatoes, flat side down, on the top.  If this is going in the oven, brush the potatoes with a little oil, and bake in a moderate oven for about 90 minutes.  Otherwise, cook in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes at high pressure.  The oven version gives wonderful roast potatoes on the top, but the quick version is equally delicious.

Grain-stuffed marrow

½ large marrow
1 onion
1 clove garlic
½ punnet mushrooms (about 8)
1 tub or tin chopped tomatoes with chilli
1 packet microwaveable mixed grains (I used Middle Eastern)

Peel and chop the onion; peel and crush the garlic.  Add both of these to a saucepan with a little cooking oil, and allow to cook for a few minutes.  While this is happening, cut your marrow into 4 equal slices, then peel each slice and remove the seeds.  Place the rings thus obtained on a baking dish.

Now chop the mushrooms (you can peel them if you wish, but unless they are beginning to be old, life's too short) and add them to the onion mixture, and allow to cook until they are just rendering their juice.  Stir in the tomatoes and the grains, until the grains are separated and the whole lot is heated through.

  Now pile into the mushroom rings, and bake in a moderately hot oven for about 45 minutes.

Midweek mushroom pasta

Yet again I failed to take a photograph....  Very quick, very easy, very delicious.

Vegetarian.  Serves 2

100 g (approx) fettucine or tagliatelle (I never know the difference)
200 g mushrooms, broken into pieces (or sliced)
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 packet parsley, finely chopped (I used a mini food processor)
1/2 tub mascarpone
Knob of butter
Salt, pepper, 1 tsp mushroom ketchup
Sprinkle of grated cheese

Put the pasta on to cook according to the instructions on the packet.  Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms.  Cook until they render their liquid, then add the crushed garlic and continue to cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes.  Now add the mascarpone and the cooked, drained pasta, and stir thoroughly until everything is well mixed.  Serve at once, perhaps with a sprinkle of grated cheese (I used Emmenthal, but Parmesan would be nice, too). 

Egg curry

The last time I made egg curry, until tonight, was in September 1989 - that evening, we had some very bad news which was so shocking and unexpected that it made me feel sick, so I didn't fancy egg curry for many months and then forgot about it! But it is a useful addition to the repertoire. The sauce is vegan, and can be used on almost anything, doesn't have to be eggs - chicken or fish, if you eat those (although I think I have a nicer fish curry recipe), big chunks of vegetables (cauliflower, etc)1, even tofu or quorn if you eat those.  Sorry there are no photos - it got eaten!

2 tbs oil (I used Tesco stir-fry)
1 large tbs curry powder
1 cube frozen ginger and garlic (or a bit of ginger root and a couple of cloves of garlic)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 apple, cored and chopped
1 plantain (or banana), peeled and sliced
1 chilli pepper, chopped (remove seeds)
1 tin chopped tomatoes (I used tomatoes with chilli, which worked beautifully)
1/2 tin water
 Salt, pepper, soya sauce, mushroom ketchup, chilli sherry, etc.
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

Put the oil, ginger/garlic and curry powder (either a proprietary blend or mix your own) into a saucepan and cook on a gentle heat for several minutes.  Add the onion, chilli, plantain and apple, and cook, stirring all the time, for a couple more minutes.  Add the tomatoes, water, and seasoning, bring to the boil, and simmer for 15 minutes while you cook some rice.  I then like to blend the sauce with a stick blender to thicken it up - you don't want it totally smooth, just nice  and thick.  Put cooked rice on the plate, add a hard-boiled egg (or 2!) and pour the sauce over.  Top with a bit of chutney, if liked.

Very quick lentil curry

Serves 2-4

1/2 punnet mushrooms
1/2 courgette
Any other vegetables you may have that using - spinach is great, and can just be folded in at the end.,
1 tin tomatoes with onion and garlic (or plain, and add the onion and garlic separately)
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup basmati rice
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock (from a cube is fine)
2 tbs sultanas or currants (or a mixture)
Curry powder and other spices as liked (I used asafoetida, to make up for the lack of onion and garlic)
1 tbs cooking oil

Cook the spices in the oil over a low heat until fragrant.  Add the vegetables, stir to coat, and let cook for a minute or two.  Or not, if you can't be bothered!  Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and simmer for 18 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Serve at once, perhaps with chutney.

Vegetarian Lasagne

Please note that the not-bolognese sauce was adapted from a Rose Elliott recipe in Not just a load of old lentils.

6-8 lasagne sheets, as needed
Grated parmesan cheese (or vegan substitute), to taste

A little cooking oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 punnet mushrooms 
1 small tub (I think 50g) walnuts
2 slices bread
1 packet passata
Salt, pepper, mixed herbs, mushroom ketchup

300 ml milk (or vegan substitute)
About 20g butter or cooking oil
1 heaped tsp plain flour
Salt, pepper, mustard powder
Grated Emmenthal, Cheddar, or vegan substitute to taste

Peel and chop the onion; peel and crush the garlic.  Put into a saucepan with the oil and allow to cook for a few minutes while you chop the mushrooms.  Add these, and continue cooking.  Meanwhile blitz the bread and walnuts in a food processor.  When the mushrooms are more-or-less cooked, turn off the heat, add the bread/walnut crumbs, the passata and seasonings to the mix and stir well.  Leave to soak for a bit while you make the bechamel sauce.  I added a spoonful of sunflower seeds to this, just because they were sitting there, looking at me!

For the Bechamel sauce, put the milk, flour and seasonings into a jug and whisk very thoroughly while the butter melts in another saucepan (or the oil heats up); pour this on to the melted fat, and continue to cook, stirring all the time, until it thickens and the mixture boils.  Turn off the heat and add the Emmenthal cheese.  Stir well.

To assemble: Make layers of not-Bolognese, lasagne sheets and Bechamel in a lasagne dish, finishing with Bechamel sauce, and top the lot with grated Parmesan or similar. 

Place on a baking tray in the centre of an oven which you have heated to 200° C (180° fan), Mark 6, and allow to cook for about 30 minutes. 

Bärlauchsuppe (Ramsons soup)

Mum and I went to a farm shop yesterday, and I bought a huge bag of ramsons.  About 250g, I think, but it's like spinach - huge leaves that weigh very little.

125 g (roughly) of ramsons (wild garlic), either bought or foraged
1 onion
1 clove smoked garlic (or ordinary, or omit)
4-5 potatoes
1 litre vegetable stock (a cube is fine!)
1 tbs creme fraiche (optional)

Peel and chop the onion and potato, crush the garlic, put it all in the soup maker with the stock.  Cook on "pureed soup".  When it bleeps, add the roughly-chopped ramsons, and blend until it is smooth.  Add the cream, if using, and check the seasoning. 

If you don't have a soup maker, sweat the veg in a little oil, then add the stock and cook until the potatoes are done, blend it, add the ramsons, and blend again.  Finish as above.

Asparagus risotto

This is the second of my favourite main-course ways of eating asparagus.

1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup (125 ml by volume) risotto rice
250 ml cooking white wine
500 ml stock (chicken, if you're not vegetarian, or vegetable if you are; cube is fine, although fresh always nicer)
About 25g butter
A nice amount of Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tray asparagus + any tough stalk ends you saved from previous recipe

Cut the tough stalks of the asparagus, and put them into a saucepan with the stock; bring to the boil and simmer while the rest of this is happening. 

Put the olive oil, onion and garlic into a pan and cook gently until transparent.  Now add the rice and stir well, and then add the wine.  Bring back to the boil and simmer for 5-8 minutes until it is all absorbed, stirring frequently.  Now add half the stock and continue.  Meanwhile, cook the asparagus - steaming is easiest, but however you prefer.

When the stock has been absorbed, add the rest of it.  Put the now-cooked stems into a food processor and blitz with a little water (or retained stock) until you have a very smooth puree.

  Now continue cooking the rice until all the stock has been absorbed, and then add the asparagus puree, the butter and the cheese, and beat vigorously until all is smooth and gloopy and delicious.

Serve topped with the steamed asparagus.

Serves 2

Asparagus with pasta and pine nuts

The asparagus season is finally here!  Actually, strictly speaking it starts next week, on 23 April, but British asparagus is already beginning to be found in the supermarkets, and I treated us to two trays thereof (only 6-7 spears in each tray, and they were expensive, but worth it).   1Some people just want to eat it as a starter, steamed with Hollandaise sauce, and why not?  Very delicious.  But sometimes you want it as a main meal, and this post and the next are two of my favourite ways of having it.

1 tray British (or local to you) asparagus
40-50 g pine nuts (Lidl sells them in 40g sachets, which is what I used)
100-120 g pasta of your choice
About 50g butter
About - well- a nice amount of Parmesan cheese, grated.

Put the pasta on to cook, and while this is happening, fry the pine nuts in half the butter, stirring all the time, until everything is nicely browned.

Then you can add the rest of the butter and fry the asparagus in the same pan, turning it frequently.  Or, if you prefer, you can steam it - up to you.  I fried ours yesterday, and it was lush.  NB, if you cut off the tough ends of the asparagus, save them for the next recipe!

Mix the pine nuts, cheese and drained pasta together, and top with the cooked asparagus.  Yummy.

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Serves 2.

Stewed squid

The thing about squid is that either you need to just barely show it the stove, as in a stir-fry or battered squid rings, or else you need to stew it thoroughly.  Anything in between and you have india-rubber!

This was a concatenation of several recipes, but I used too much liquid and it came out more like soup than stew - none the worse for that, I may say.  I thought the beans would absorb more than they did.

About 250 g squid - whole, if possible, but rings is fine if that's what you have.
1 large onion
2 carrots
1 leek
1 chili pepper (optional)
1/2 courgette (this would have been a whole one, but I found a half in the fridge that wanted using)
Several small potatoes
1 sloosh tomato paste
1 tin tomatoes or passata
200 ml cooking wine (I used white, as there was some open)
1/2 cup dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
A little cooking oil
Stock cube and other seasoning, as liked.

Peel and chop the vegetables - I didn't peel the potatoes, but did slice them - and do feel free to substitute any or all of them.  Many recipes include celery, but we are not fans of cooked celery, so I tend to substitute leek.  I did think of using a "casserole mix" as Lidl sells pre-prepared vegetables you can use in a casserole, and which make very good soup, too, but had too many vegetables in the fridge to justify doing that.

Sweat the vegetables in the cooking oil,

then add the rest of the ingredients.

I then added 500 ml water, which turned out to be far too much as I was using my Instant Pot for this.  I think probably 200 ml would have been ample, maybe even less, but I hadn't pre-cooked the beans (if I had, I probably wouldn't have added any extra water).  Then cook on high pressure for 20 minutes, or, if you are not using a pressure cooker, simmer for about an hour. 

Braised lamb heart

This was really rather good! No photos, I'm afraid.
 1 packet lamb hearts (Tesco sells packs of 2)
1 tbs plain flour
1/2 cup flageolets
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 large tomatoes
1/2 punnet mushrooms
1 chili pepper
1/2 red sweet pepper
1/2 packet "soup mix" vegetables - a mixture of chopped leeks, swede and carrot sold by my local Lidl
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 tbs mint jelly
about 250 ml water
Salt and pepper

Cook the flageolet beans (use any beans you like, but I do like flageolets) - I just put them in the Instant Pot with a bit of bicarbonate of soda, and cooked for 20 minutes, letting them cool naturally. You could use a tin of beans that you have drained and rinsed instead.

Peel and chop all the vegetables, then fry in a little oil until beginning to be soft. Transfer to slow cooker.  Cut the hearts in half and slice them, removing any tuby bits. Fry these in the same pan you have just cooked the vegetables in, adding a little more oil if necessary, and sprinkling them with the flour. Stir vigorously. Then transfer this to the slow cooker, plus the barley.

Deglaze the pan with the mint jelly and water, and season with salt and pepper and any other seasoning you like. Pour this into the slow cooker, stir well, and then cook on auto for about 7-8 hours.

Microwave lemon curd

I find this quicker and easier than the way I used to make it, on the stovetop.  Citrus fruit is in season at this time of year - look out for the Sevilles for your marmalade - so it's a perfect time to make lemon curd and bring a bit of sunshine into dull January!

4 medium unwaxed lemons
450 g sugar
4 eggs
120 g butter

Sterilise a couple of jamjars by washing them in hot water, rinsing, and then putting them into the oven (on low) for at least 10 minutes - do this before you start the rest of the preparation.  This has the great advantage that you then have a large bowlful of clean washing-up water that you can use to wash up as you go along!

I find the easiest way of doing things is to put everything except the butter into a food processor - quite apart from anything else, you can put the lemon zest in in strips and don't have to use a microplane grater, which is boring!  So lemon zest, juice, sugar and eggs go in the food processor and you whizz this while melting the butter in a large microwave-proof bowl.

Then you mix the two together, stir really thoroughly and microwave for about a minute at a time until it begins to thicken, at which time reduce the time to 30 seconds at a time.  Stir vigorously between each bout of microwaving.  When it is thick and delicious, pot it up and enjoy!

It should be kept in the fridge, so I don't bother with cellophane and/or waxed paper, but you can if you prefer.